Under the high-noon sun of Los Angeles, creatives and competitors collided as Artadia’s third annual tennis tournament made its triumphant return. Pivoting swiftly in response to this year’s wildfires, the nonprofit grantmaker moved the event from it’s traditional pre-Frieze kickoff slot to May, proving that resilience, much like a strong backhand, is key on the court.
Hosted in partnership with the historic Los Angeles Tennis Club—established in 1920—the fundraiser is Artadia’s biggest West Coast activation to date and its most successful: Enough funds were raised to underwrite three of the organization’s celebrated artist awards. These unrestricted grants, spread across seven U.S. cities in a curator-led selection process, are at the core of Artadia’s mission to platform visual artists as both storytellers and civic leaders.
The event was co-chaired by Charles Gaines, Jennie Lamensdorf, and Rafael Flores—all styled in Wilson for the occasion—and gathered over 130 guests, including Gagosian’s Leta Grzan, Hauser & Wirth’s Kate Abrams, and David Zwirner’s Robert Goff, as well as curator Mia Locks, writer Matthew Stromberg, and artists Ally Hilfiger, Todd Gray, and Roksana Pirouzmand. Forty-five members of the group took to the court in a rotating doubles-style LVBL format while the rest, including many Artadia alums, hit the taco bar and took in the spectacle under a cloudless sky. Locks gave afternoon remarks before winning the tournament, despite insisting she wouldn’t. Still, guests lingered on—with this crowd on sunny day, the conversation doesn’t get much better.
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